A Summary of Our Beliefs

Summaries of beliefs and doctrine are helpful, necessary and yet difficult.  Why? God took 66 books and thousands of years to articulate who he is, what is real, and what he requires of us.  Further, the most common genre or "type" of writing in the Bible (the place where God reveals himself) is "story."  God is not a proposition or concept.  Yet, at the same time we believe that true Truth is knowable and that summaries of beliefs and doctrine are good and not to be avoided or neglected.  In the end, a summary of beliefs is what it is: a summary. 

The following is a summary, in broad strokes and general terms of what we believe the Bible teaches:

1. God is Holy, pure, and perfect, yet also passionately pursues broken people to love them with a love they have not earned.  He is the one true good Father.
2. The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
3. There is one God, eternal and self-existing in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) who are to be equally loved, honored and adored.
4. All mankind participated in Adam's fall from his original sinless state and is thus lost in sin and totally helpless.
5. All mankind is still made in the image of God so we are noble, beautiful, and good while at the same time we are broken in every aspect of our being.
6. Since the Fall, God has been actively at work redeeming his creation.  In the incarnation, life, and death of his son, Jesus Christ, God has declared, secured, and continued the restoration of all things in His Kingdom.
7. The Sovereign God, for no other reason than His own unfathomable love and mercy, awakens, regenerates, and saves lost sinners from every nation through the quickening power of the Holy Spirit on account of the atoning death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
8. Justification (being made right with God) is by faith.  Through this faith, the undeserving sinner is clothed with the righteousness of Christ.  Read those two sentences again because this is as beautiful as it is hard to believe. 
9. The goal of God's salvation is that we would be adopted as his children, set free, and empowered to a life of repentance, obedience, and reliance on the Holy Spirit who works to transform us and restore the image of God in us. 
10. Baptism is a sign of God's covenant and is properly administered to children of believers in their infancy as well as to those who come to trust in Christ as adults.
11. Jesus Christ will return to earth, visibly and bodily, at a time when he is not expected to restore all things and bring fulfillment.
12. The Gospel of God's salvation in Jesus Christ is to be shared with all people and all nations.